


Endgame

by MiniNephthys



Series: Deep-Sea Prisoner Reaper's Game [2]
Category: Mogeko Castle, Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You, 灰色庭園 | Haiiro Teien | The Gray Garden
Genre: F/M, One-Sided Attraction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-05
Updated: 2015-05-05
Packaged: 2018-03-29 02:44:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3879154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yonaka Kurai is attempting to stab a frog Noise to death by herself when a girl speaks up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Endgame

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly wasn't planning to continue this.

Typically, the area that someone dies in is where they participate in the Reaper’s Game. There are, however, places that have no Reaper’s Game of their own, and so the Player’s soul is usually shunted back to the most appropriate place, such as where they live.

Yonaka Kurai is attempting to stab a frog Noise to death by herself when a girl speaks up. “You have to have a partner. Don’t you remember?”

Yonaka looks to her, and wonders if she was always dead in the eyes, or if dying just did that to her. “Okay. Be partners with me.”

The girl nods. That’s enough for Yonaka to be able to direct the Pin she wears to do something useful, and a dagger appears out of nowhere and slices the Noise to pieces.

She can’t see what happened to the Noise the other girl was facing, but the area seems calm now. The girl turns to her. “Nataka Kurokawa.”

“Yonaka Kurai. Nice to meet you.”

There is a short silence.

“So… first day’s mission,” Yonaka says, judging that Nataka isn’t going to say anything else. “We’d better get going.”

The missions are nothing special. Get to a certain area by a certain time. That area is usually blocked off by Reapers, who require them to clear the Noise from an area in order to pass.

Nataka doesn’t care about the missions, but Nataka doesn’t seem to care about anything, and she’ll go along with and cooperate with Yonaka without too much complaint. She’s depressing to be around, but Yonaka hasn’t had a reason to think she’s a bad partner yet.

The Reapers aren’t exactly a problem, they’re just doing their jobs, but…

“Hey, cutie~”

It’s that guy and his partner again. Yonaka shuts her eyes and tightens her grip on the Pins in her pocket. She can hear their wingbeats stop, so they must have landed.

“What is it?” asks Nataka, flatly.

“Don’t give me that look. It’s not like I’ve attacked you yet, right?” the guy says.

“So get on with it,” says Yonaka.

“Naaah. See, I’ve got this effin’ sweet Noise I could let loose on you, buuuut…” The Reaper pauses for emphasis. “I could maybe get talked out of it, you know? If you were nice enough.”

“What do you want?” asks Nataka.

“Well, I’m not really into you. But Braids over there, if a cute girl like you-”

The Reaper doesn’t finish. Yonaka’s eyes snap open. Her grip is tight enough on her Pins that they would be painful, if she could feel anything besides anger right now.

Her answer is the summoning of a dozen blades, pointed directly at the Reaper’s throat, punctuated with a growled, “No.”

The Reaper backs off, while his partner openly laughs at him. “That’s what you get, Emalf,” she says.

“H-hey, Rieta, we’re not supposed to fight them directly ‘til the last day-” Emalf says, eyes wide as the blades inch closer to him.

“I don’t care,” says Yonaka. Behind her, Nataka pulls out her own Pins. “Do you want to be Erased?”

That’s enough for Emalf, who turns and flies away as fast as he can. Rieta shakes her head. “What a terrible partner,” she says. “Well, I had better catch up to him. Until next time, Players.”

Yonaka watches her fly after him, then lets the knives dissipate. Anger leaves her body, leaving the fear it had been covering up, and she falls to the ground, shaking.

Nataka sits down beside her and, hesitantly, puts a hand on her shoulder. And that helps, a little.

The next notable Reapers they see, a few days later, aren’t Emalf and Rieta, but a different pair, a guy playing with a lollipop and an irritated looking woman. They’re arguing.

“They’re letting in all kinds of idiot Reapers these days,” says the woman. “We used to be able to count on them at least doing their jobs, but now all they want to do is slack off and try and pick up girls-”

That’s Yonaka’s cue to clear her throat. “Are you in charge of the Reapers around here?” she asks.

The man shakes his head before the woman can answer. “Nah, we’re just field agents. Why do you ask?”

“There’s this one Reaper that’s been hassling me,” Yonaka says.

“That’s their job,” says the other Reaper.

Yonaka continues like she hadn’t spoken. “And I wanted somebody higher up in the ranks to know that if Emalf ever hits on me again, I’ll either Erase him or cut his dick off. Or maybe both.”

The guy Reaper rubs the back of his neck. “Sheesh. We’ll let him know he’s in hot water.”

Yonaka knows it could just be him brushing her off, but for some reason, she figures he understands she’s serious. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” He gives her a smile, while she doesn’t look quite as irritated. “He was in trouble from our end anyway. Good luck out there.”

She nods and smiles back, before turning to Nataka, and hurrying off to complete the day’s mission.

They don’t see Emalf again until the last day. Nataka is the first one to spot him. “Annoyance at three o’clock.”

Emalf and Rieta land together. “Sorry, girls, but it’s time to stop playing around,” he says.

“Were we ever playing?” asks Yonaka, holding onto her Pins.

“We’ve fallen underneath our quota for Erasing Players, so it’s time for you to go,” says Rieta, smiling.

“Fine.” Yonaka has nothing more to say.

What follows contains a lot of fire, a lot of sharp objects, and some especially high-pitched screaming on Emalf’s part. Neither Yonaka nor Nataka are particularly surprised about who wins.

“Yonaka,” asks Nataka, when they’re done. “What was your entrance fee?”

Yonaka almost laughs. On the last day, it seems silly to just be asking now. “I think they were some memories. When I try to think about my family, I can remember my father and mother alright, but then my mind gets hazy.”

Nataka nods. Her eyes are still dull and lifeless, but she’s had Yonaka’s back this whole week, and for that…

“Thanks. I’m glad we were partners,” says Yonaka.

Nataka seems to almost smile. “...Whatever.”


End file.
